easy to make money when you have other income . Hard to do it fulltime with no other job . I target 40 pips a week partime and then stop and do my regular job . Works for me . Tried doing fulltime and always overtrade and end up losing
I think it is much harder now than in the 1980s to day trade. There is just so much more noise now. Between countless indicators, so many different ways to have bar charts as in Candlesticks, Renke, volume, tick, Heiken Ashi, Point & figure and on and on and on. Too many lack patience to just stay on one thing or idea for more than a few minutes. And lack of sample size in backtesting. Took me seven years to learn to day trade, all the money I was making long term stocks, I was losing into each day of losses. But it is like anything, you work hard at something long enough, something will sink in, then you find how easy it really is. We constantly think day trading has to be hard, we get into this mindset that we must go against HFTs and large hedge funds, but if you just keep it real simple, you have better chance of making profits. But most fail cause they have unrealistic goals when they start out. Instead of trying to nail 2.00pts in ES or 10 pips in forex, they go for homerun trades and throw away the easy money that's on the floor. Homerun trades exist for the longer term trader.
Maybe possible but highly doubtful unless you're working for an bank/institution on salary. Not a bad way to earn some extra cash here and there but will take you many years and if you're trying by yourself at home, if ever. Don't let anyone fool you here with there BS claims that they make any money, there is one guy on this forum, maybe two who I think can trade FX and they don't even post much on it. I don't make any real cash (as in supporting myself, let alone a family, medical, etc) and wouldn't even attempt to go full time unless I had a real serious stake... in which I would not be trading just FX, actually more would be in equities no question. just my 2cents... been messing with FX for 4-5 years now.
message boards for traders can be good to help with the sometime boredom of trading...but as you said ...those guys who you think are earning..yet post little...there is a simple reason for that. if you truly have an edge of any kind in trading, you know how hard that is to find....there is not 1 trader who actually earns who puts out his trades or rationale in a repeated fashion for the et masses to see. think of it like this; if you had a small manufacturing business in town and there was another guy in the same exact business...would each of you share some of your best insights on edge? of course not..but for all else regarding trading, issues , etc..this is a fine place to hash things out.
agree 100% man. I guess I just cant stand these nickle and dime fx clowns who even I can tell have no idea what they are doing, claiming they make profits for more than a few weeks or better yet make a living off just FX with 100:1+ leverage, absurd MM or "systems" etc. On the other hand, I guess I should get over it lol It will never stop. I don't really care that much really, but i'll throw a post out here and there precisely out of boredom. It is hard to find that edge for the average guy with no connects starting from scratch, so I guess my post was as much a warning as a hit on those people. It takes some hard work and a long time watching markets that is for damn sure. This is the only trading forum I frequent now, but I don't see many good FX specific things anymore. I have seen some threads from you guys back in the day though, with some good info if people cared to dig.
I would have to say, Yes. I know many who depend on Trading as a source of income for their living. Of course, you should have a skill set that eludes 95% of the people who dabbled into trading to be successful.
I used to think that we can make a living from forex even if we do it part time but now I am feeling that it is not possible because I am almost out of trading since I started my real job.
It is possible, but you have to do things in a way that is uncomfortable for most people, and you have to have a certain aptitude for creative thinking and disciplined action. One of the best Day-trading blogs by a real trader is: http://www.quantifiedstrategies.com/ It is one of the only blogs I found that discusses trading ideas that are realistic in a realistic way - with a voice that is clearly experienced and not just "shadow-boxing" or overly theoretical/chart voodoo.
I have also read many such blogs and success stories but not getting the string of that magic way of success. I am putting my efforts and I hope I will find one end of that string also.
Yes it is possible but it doesn't happen over night, it will take some years to develop the necessary discipline, intuition, knowledge of market mechanics. Best of luck! Watch the below video for why most traders fail. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnRf6Bd6n9s